


Sweet Like Candy

by Magpie_Crow



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Bakery AU, Except annabeth, F/F, Genderswap, I Don't Even Know, everyone's a lesbian, first fic, minor blood, who doesn't actually show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22420924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpie_Crow/pseuds/Magpie_Crow
Summary: Percea ran away from her problems, and from Jada. What happens when both catch back up?
Relationships: Jason Grace/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Sweet Like Candy

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, so it's not terribly good, but I heard Electric Love by Borns on the radio and it inspired me to do a gender bent Jercy. Percea is derived from Parcae, which is Latin and has something to do with the mythological fates, so I thought it was fairly appropriate as a gender bent name for Percy. Had to make Annabeth/Andrew the one to break up with Percy in this one, because as much as I like her as a character, and as much as I like Percabeth, the song was very much a Jercy sort of song.
> 
> Most of this was written when I was 16 and I apologize for that.

Sally's Seaside Sweets was a tourist trap. It had been since it popped into existence seemingly overnight three years ago, and it was surprisingly successful, for a confectionery. Its sole employee; to the general populace, was Sally Solace; a pretty young woman with an enthusiasm for anything and everything water-themed. To her own people, she would be (had she chosen to be among them), Percea Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, and heroine of the Second Titan War.

Percea hadn't seen a demigod for three years. She ran away, after Andrew Chase broke up with her, and asked her father for the means to start up a candy shop by the sea. He had agreed, on the one condition that she make her shop something of a safe house. Even so, since the War, monsters hadn't been frequent. None of the god's spawn had needed to take refuge in Sally's Seaside Sweets, and that was just fine for Percea.

She stood with her back to the entrance to her store, staring at a mortal's interpretation of hippocampi playing in the ocean. Despite its obvious failings in the direction of inaccuracy, it was a pretty painting. Yet, it reminded her of the lake at Camp-Halfblood, and Andrew, and, ultimately, Jada Grace.

Percea turned away and re-wiped the already spotless glass that protected her most popular treats, tiny marzipan shells and chocolate fish that looked almost like they were swimming. It wouldn't do to think about the son of Jupiter. Jada was happily involved with a daughter of Aphrodite. Percea had fled the presence of her demigod peers because of Jada. Jada and Andrew and the weight of being a heroine pulling down at her like a starved denizen of the underworld.

Things had been easier, she thought, before, when she had been dating Andrew and the Second Titan War wasn't even an inkling of a thought. Before she met Jada, before Tartarus, and before they saved the world.

After the defeat of Gaia, Andrew pulled her aside and told her that they didn't feel like a couple anymore. The son of Athena said that it was obvious that neither of them felt the same way they had before the War, and Percea agreed, albeit unhappily.

It turned out well, she supposed. After Nicki and Ray brought about the reconciliation of the Greek and Roman camps, Percea found it easy to slip away and live as a mortal. It was fun, really. The locals of the area she set up in liked her. She liked them, too. She liked how they lived, oblivious to the Mist and monsters and gods. She liked how they used the name and contents of her shop to make up tongue twisters that somehow made their way to the websites and papers tourists looked at while visiting.

She also liked the relative anonymity of a seaside attraction on a Florida beach. Which is why, when things fell to pieces, Percea expected nothing. It had been three years without mishap, after all.

The bell jangled ominously, and Percea looked up to see a satyr and two demigods stumble into her neat confectionery. One of the demigods was a young boy, maybe eleven, trying valiantly to help the satyr support the older demigod. The other, Percea couldn't identify. It was a girl, perhaps around the same age as Percea, but she was too muddy; or perhaps too bloody, for Percea to identify. In seconds, Percea was over the counter, Riptide in her hand, and ready to defend her paradise from any monster that might be chasing the three.

“Sh.. She got it..” gasped the satyr, and Percea dropped her sword in favor of relieving the satyr and the boy of their burden.

It wasn't difficult, getting the injured demigod up the stairs and into the room Percea kept for emergencies like this. Despite her semi-mortal life, Percea had kept up with her sword fighting skills, and she hadn't lost any of her strength. Once she had the girl safely ensconced on the bed with plastic sheets and the water running to make a bath in the spare bathroom, she turned to the satyr for an explanation.

“What happened? I've not seen monsters around here for nearly three years.”

The satyr grinned wryly at her before answering. “Chiron sent me'n her to get the new kid,’ here he jerked a thumb at the shaking boy, 'and we ran into a manticore on the way back. I saw the glow of a safe-house, figured it'd be best to see if we could get some help before heading to camp.”

Percea nodded and herded the two of them into her sitting room, where she tossed a Finding Nemo blanket over the boy and pulled some leftovers out of the fridge, thanking whoever was in charge of such things that she had enchiladas. “Help yourselves to whatever, and I'll see to your companion.”

Returning to the spare room, she filled a bowl with water and grabbed a rag to clean off the demigod's face and wounds. She nearly dropped the bowl when she turned to see the girl struggling up off the bed. “No you don't!” She put the bowl down swiftly and rushed to her side. “Stay still. You're wounded. I'm helping you.”

The girl surged onto her feet, a familiar weapon flickering into existence in her hand. “Dale... Kid... Where?”

Percea sank to the ground, pulling the now very familiar demigod with her. “Hades, Jada.” 

It was all she could do to stay calm and not panic. Jada Grace. In her spare room. Jada Grace. In her hidey-hole. Shortly, after she collected her thoughts, she stood up and lifted Jada back onto the bed.

“Perce?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“Where've you been?”

Shrugging, she returned to her bowl of water. “Here.”

“We looked for you. All of us.”

Percea laughed bitterly and handed Jada a square of ambrosia from the cabinet under the bed, answering as the searched for Jada's wounds. “In Florida?”

Jada spoke through a mouthful. “Apparently not hard enough.”

“Apparently not.”

The daughter of Jupiter looked at her, sky blue eyes deep and searching. “I'm sorry.”

“For what?”

“Whatever made you mad?”

Percea looked up at her friend slash crush. “Hades, Jada, I'm not mad.”

“You sound mad.”

Rolling her eyes, Percea wiped the mud off Jada's face. “I'm not. Where are you injured, exactly? I can't find any injuries.”

She shrugged. “I'm not sure. The blood is mine. Maybe it was just small cuts that the ambrosia fixed.”

Relieved, Percea gestured to the full bath. “You should clean up. There are some spare camp clothes in the cabinet with the towels. There ought to be something you can wear.”

Standing, Jada looked at her inquisitively. “Where are Dale and the kid?”

“In the sitting room. I need to go check on them. Yell if you need something?”

Jada nodded and walked slowly to the bathroom, obviously tired.

Percea closed the bedroom door and heaved a sigh of relief. That went better than she had expected her next meeting with Jada to be. It had been hard enough to not think of Jada when the object of her affection was miles away, but now that Jada was in her guest room... It would be a nightmare, and Percea had been in Tartarus.

After what seemed like an eternity, Percea heard the faint sound of the bell over her shop door ringing for the second time today. And then “Sally? Sweet darlin', your floor is a mess. You ok, hon?”

The sound of her neighbor's friendly voice broke through Percea's reverie. “Hades.”

“Sally Solace, you'd better get your shell-loving rear out here right now, or I'ma gonna come up there and whack the first person I see wi' my umbrella!”

“Who-”

Percea winced and shushed the curious satyr before walking downstairs, pushing her demigod life into the back of her head. “Meg, sorry. You need something?”

Meghan Rosenbaum had a specialty hat shop a few doors down. She'd come and introduced herself to Percea when Sally's Seaside Sweets first opened up, and Percea's first thought was that Hestia left Olympus to sell hats in Florida. 

“You look like you seen a ghost, girl!”

It was hard not to like Meg. “No, Meg. No ghosts here.” Meghan looked at her suspiciously.

“What about things livin'? You in any trouble, Sally?”

Percea shook her head with a laugh. “Not that I know of. What brings you over today?”

“You know Celida Gonzales?”

“More or less.”

“It's her shower tomorrow.”

An ominous feeling began raising its head in Percea's chest. “Yeah?”

“The bakery that was gonna make the cake chickened out.”

There it was. The reason for the ominous feeling. “A cake, huh?”

Meghan looked at her as if she was, well, a hero. (Not an unfamiliar thing for people to see Percea as.) “I'd not like to inconvenience you, honey, but...”

A cake. Percea didn't mind the commission much, money was always welcome. And... Well... Jada was upstairs. The cake Meghan ended up asking for would take her most of the night, and maybe some of the morning for delivery sake. Perhaps by the time she got back, the three travelers might have gone back to camp.

To... Ahem... Push the process of 'Getting Jada Grace OUT OF MY SHOP BECAUSE GREAT HERA’ along, Percea might have hypothetically sent a message to Chiron about having Nicki come and help the three get to a safer place than Sally's. Hypothetically, of course.

After sending the hypothetical message, she explained the situation to Dale the satyr and told him where the extra linens were before returning to the shop floor, cleaning up the mud/blood/manticore sparkles, and flipping the sign to 'Closed'.

Once her ministrations to the shop were finished, she retreated to the refuge of her confectionery kitchen, as of yet the only un-Jadaed place with a lock on the door. After locking said lock, she tied on her “Kiss the Hero” (bad joke, dad. Really.) apron and lost herself in her work.

When she got home the next day, having spent the rest of the evening/night in her kitchen and sleeping on her 'Kitchen Kot' (trademarked by Percea Jackson), the three guests had indeed gone. There was, however, a note on the coffee table beside a pile of drachmas. The note was in Jada's neat script, and Percea almost didn't want to touch it.

**Perce**

**Would have been nice to see you before we left, but you have a life here, I guess. Nice to know you're alive. Well, we knew, because Nicki, but you get the idea. The drachmas are so you can CONTACT US sometimes. Now that I know where you are, if you don't call I'll fly over and kidnap you to hang out for a bit.**

**See you.**

**Jada**

Eurgh.

~~

Jada Grace had a problem. It had been two weeks since she, Dale, and the new Hermes camper had unceremoniously crashed into Percea's new life, and no one had heard from her since. She tried calling, but no Iris-messages went through. She tried sending letters, but they came back unopened with a “unknown location” stamped on them in that annoying red ink the god of messengers seemed so fond of. It was almost as if Sally's Seaside Sweets didn't exist on the radar of the gods at all. So, Jada Grace had a problem.

“Have you slept?”

Jada's ex-girlfriend, Piper Mclean, sat down next to her, her kaleidoscope eyes worried.

“Not much.” She and Piper had made a unanimous decision to end their relationship two years ago. She was afraid that since their entire relationship was based on a false memory (thanks, Hera), their future was already shot. Jada had realized that she might be in love with Percea Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, heroine of Olympus. 

Piper knew what happened, of course. Even though they weren't in a relationship anymore, the two of them were still friends; and, due to her parenting, Piper knew about her feelings for Percea. Knew about, and encouraged. Jada sighed. 

"She's not going to contact us, is she?"

Shrugging, Piper leaned her head on her shoulder comfortingly. "I don't know, Jada. She hasn't con-tacted anyone since she messaged Nicki about picking you up. Just dropped off the face of the planet again." 

Smiling wanly, Jada poked her in the side. "She's in Florida. Not off the face of the planet."

Piper gave her an unimpressed glare. She knew what that glare meant. It was halfway between 'idiot' and, well, 'idiot'. How anyone could make an expression that vague while still being so very specific baffled Jada, but whatever. That wasn't important right now.

"What should I do, Pipes?" 

With a grin, Piper shoved her playfully. "Go get your girl, Grace. Don't make me do it for you." 

That was a thought Jada didn't really want to think about. She ruffled Piper's hair in a twisted sort of thanks before starting over to the Big House to ask for permission to fly to Florida.

Nicki Di'Angelo stopped her progress halfway there. "Going to go find Percea?" 

Jada nodded an affirmative. 

"Good. You've been moping enough."

Jada swatted at the back of her head. "Like you can talk, Miss-I'm-Mooning-Over-A-Daughter-of-Apollo." 

Nicki blushed, and then punched Jada in the ribs. Ouch. The daughter of Hades might be skinny, but she sure packed a punch.

"Percea is using the name Solace. I think she stole it from Willa. Maybe that's why no-one can Iris-message her? Iris might only be accepting the fake name for whatever reason."   
Jada hadn't thought of that. She said as much, and then Nicki implied that she hadn't thought about it because she was Roman, and so Jada drew her sword threateningly and started after the small Italian. Nicki laughed and ran. Towards the Big House, and by extension, the infirmary. The son of Zeus put his weapon back in its place, smug in the knowledge that Willa Solace would put Nicki to work if she dared set foot in the daughter of Apollo's domain.

Justice.

~~

The sky had been dark all day, deterring most tourists, and Percea had a niggling feeling that some-thing was up. Something ultimately unpleasant. She swept her polishing cloth over her display case one more time, wondering if she ought to close the shop and go visit her father for the day. 

The ringing of her shops bell as customers blew in with a gust of humid air interrupted her musings. A couple, it seemed, a small redheaded woman and a blonde man with highly impressive arms. Percea greeted them, and then asked if they were looking for anything specific. The woman gave her a searching glance, and then smiled brightly.

“A gift. For his husband,’ she said, poking her companion. “We did not expect to have the day off, but with the weather the way it is… Do you have samples, perhaps?”

Not a couple, then. And possibly Russian? The woman had something of an accent. The man hadn’t spoken yet. 

Percea smiled at them and pulled a few samples from the sealed sample tray, placing them expertly on a small paper plate. 

“Why don’t we start with these?”

When they left, they left with several of Percea’s marzipan creations, as well as her card and a few cookies. The woman, ‘call me Natalie,’ had asked several questions about the unexpected weather, but at Percea told her was that yes, it was unexpected, but this is Florida. She had suspicions; of course, but how to explain to a mortal that an ancient Greek deity had something to do with the weather without looking crazy? Yeah, no.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
((Author’s Note: Everything before this point was written when I was sixteen. You will probably notice a change in writing style and for that I am sorry. I just had a sudden urge to finish this story, lol. I also apologize for the random Marvel character cameos, not really sure what that was about.))  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Percea did go ahead and close early, deciding that she might as well try and find out what was going on. 

At least, she tried. Right after she flipped the sign on the door from ‘open’ to ‘closed’ and turned away, a sharp rapping echoed through the room. Turning back once more, she caught her breath. 

Standing there, wind whipping through her hair and lightening in her eyes, was Jada Grace.

Percea opened the door. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m in love with you, Perce.” Jada stepped into her space, lifting a hand to caress her cheek. “I think I have been for a while.”

Percea hoped that this wasn’t some sort of fever dream. She grabbed the collar of Jada’s shirt and pulled the taller demigod down for a kiss.

If it was a dream, it was a _good_ one.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed! 
> 
> I set up a Discord server! <https://discord.gg/gtWgvQ4>  
> Join me to talk about my writing and stuff! I generally write about Sanders Sides, but sometimes I do other stuff. Sometimes. 
> 
> Find more on tumblr @we-are-fam-ily


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